The success of ARC Raiders seems to know no brakes. After the already impressive peak of over 246 thousand users connected simultaneously on Steam, during the first weekend of its release the Embark Studio title reached 462 thousand simultaneous players on PC. Not happy, on November 9th theextraction shooter even topped the charts Battlefield 6positioning itself only behind the titans of Valve’s platform, Dota 2, Counter Strike And PUBG. And the sales result is no different. According to data released by the development studio, they have exceeded 4 million. But why is a title belonging to such a niche genre continuing to gain such positive attention?
The answer is quite simple, but it is divided into several fronts. First, to use a common joke among the larger gaming community, it is a product “for those who have a job”. The learning curve is not too steep, unlike other representatives of its category such as Escape from Tarkov which require hours and hours to understand all the mechanics, even the most basic ones. The fact that it can be played in a group, and that it only costs 40 euros, are two other factors that have certainly helped. But most of all, It’s not frustrating.
Now, nothing is more hateful than seeing your progress evaporate. This is true both in the most serious moments of life and in those of leisure. Who plays a extraction shooter it necessarily takes into account the fact of being able to lose all the loot gained during a game due to AI-controlled enemies or other users (remember that the formula is that of PvPvE). Even knowing the “risks” involved, being shot down with a full backpack or while waiting for extraction could cause nerves. ARC Raiders managed to mitigate this formula, allowing users to passively earn building materials thanks to the faithful chicken Scrappyto buy many objects, weapons and equipment from the various merchants present in Speranza, the central hub of the game, and to venture on surface expeditions with a loadout free. Nothing phenomenal, but losing that and not valuable components certainly reduces the irritation.
Apparently the community also “helped” the development studio less conflict oriented compared to that of other games. Of course, there has been no shortage of gunshots in the back of this writer too (and we have done so too our “rat” side because, all things considered, you can’t trust anyone), but in general there isn’t a climate of heavy mutual hostility, especially in the first maps. And despite this, it is natural to venture to the surface with a certain tension, very similar to that felt in the battle royal.
In short, the guys at Embark Studio have found the right key to interpret this hostile and still sparsely populated genre. And with ten years of content already in the pipeline, we can’t wait to see what else Calabretta Sud will reveal to us.